


What Has Survived the Dawn

by JessicaPendragon



Series: Canon Keela Lavellan [11]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Morning After
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-17
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-11-15 02:29:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11221395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JessicaPendragon/pseuds/JessicaPendragon
Summary: Regrets are for the old and she has made him young again. Takes places aftertheir first night together.





	What Has Survived the Dawn

She doesn’t mean for them to fall asleep here, but the night is warm and her body languid, pleasure filled and satisfied. It is too easy to drift, to follow the course of the current nearby as she’s carried into the Fade. Although they are exposed to the elements with no walls or guards save their own wards and the crumbling ruin above, she dreams without worry. She forgot what it was like to sleep with the steady breath of someone cherished nearby, to feel a heart that beats with hers beneath ear.

Such romantic notions are hard to hold onto in the morning when she wakes with a stiff back and the horrid squawk of birds too close to ignore in the dark blue of early morning. There’s a fog gathering above the river and floating over the far mountains but the memories of last night are clear things. The hard stone against her back, jagged and scratching, the press of his body just as hard but something she arcs into, wanting more and more. Wanting it all. His taste in her mouth, the way he tasted her - it was worth the wait.

Solas sleeps soundly by her side, brow light and untroubled, and for a moment she allows herself to be soft. With her eyes she traces the lines of his face, connects the dots of his freckles and the small scar on his face. She wonders if he was a boy when he received it and smiles to imagine him as such, small yet wiry and wide eyed at the world no doubt. There are a few seconds where her thoughts turn to what his _children_  might look like too, but those are swept away, locked somewhere her foolishness cannot get to. It is time to wake up.

She leaves quick kisses against his lips, each little peck meant to draw him gently from the Fade. When his breath begins to change she lingers longer and soon his mouth curls beneath hers, a hand coming up to curl into her tangled hair and draw her closer with a lazy urgency she doesn’t fight. The moment cannot last forever, however, for soon they will be missed if they aren’t already. She would rather not walk through a crowded camp and be subject to the knowing gaze of everyone there, for it will be quite obvious what their Inquisitor and her apostate companion have been up to.

Still, she can’t help but take some extra time to thoroughly wake him before finally breaking the quiet between them. “Good morning.”

“It is,” he replies, smile clever and content.

“We should go before everyone in Dirthavaren wakes. I would rather not be caught without pants by Freemen.” She glances down at her attire, or lack thereof, and gives a sigh at her own stupidity. They are not far from Inquisition forces but as dawn fully breaks over the horizon the more ill advised their late night rendezvous seems. 

A tug on her arm sends her rolling across Solas’ body which half covers hers in the next moment. Her protests are sealed away by his mouth, what little fight to push him back given up as his long fingers find their way beneath her shift. Now that they have crossed the line in the sand there is no hesitation in his touch, tongue not tied in knots but tangling all her thoughts instead. She feels young again, careless, carefree. She feels in danger and the thrill of it makes her heart beat like a wild thing.

“Stop,” she whispers more to herself than Solas, but even so he obeys, stilling his touch and moving away. The cool air of morning sifts in between them and she resists the urge to pull him close again. She smiles in answer to the concerned patience he wears as she shifts out from beneath him. “There will be time for that later, if I have any say. Unless you intend to continue as if nothing has changed?”

A thumb brushes across her vallaslin, down to trace the edge of her lips, and Solas gives a small shake of his head. “No. What I have said before remains true. Perhaps even more so now.”

“And what’s that?”

“You change everything.” 

The thought, the way he says it, sends little jolts down to her toes and she accepts one more lingering kiss before forcing them both back into the real world. They pause at the rivers edge to drink and wash away the last vestiges of sleep and then begin the trek back towards camps. It is easy to steer clear of the lights dotting the reclaimed ramparts, but the nearer they get to the smoke of their destination the more Keela realizes there will be no sneaking undetected back into their tents. 

Solas notices how her feet slow when the first sentry comes into view. “There are spells to mask our entrance if you so desi-”

“Inquisitor!” Cassandra shouts, one arm waving into the air as she runs forward, and Solas’ suggestion evaporates with a chuckle. “Inquisitor, you’re-ah!” The Seeker skids to a stop a little distance away, her eyes going wide when she realizes the state her leader is in, and who she has come out of the fog with. “Ah, you were…I…”

“Is there something wrong?”

“Yes-no! We were concerned. I found your tent empty and thought something might be amiss. But you’re…all right?” Keela cocks a smirk at her and watches Cassandra’s face turn as red as lyrium. “Yes, uh, of course.”

“Please tell me you don’t have the whole camp looking for us.”

“No. Varric suspected something more,” she gestures between them, “might be the cause when we noted both your tents were unoccupied. I’ve alerted no one else.” Keela doesn’t think that’s true any longer considering how loud her friend was. Some of the embarrassment about Cassandra disappears as she dons a scowl. “You could be more discreet.”

“Yes, well.” Keela clears her throat and glances at Solas, sharing a look that makes Cassandra frown even further. “Let us move on.”

She strides forward towards camp with the others in tow and is glad to see most still asleep. Only two soldiers stand watch, one facing away and the other’s face turning red as they come into view. Varric sits in front of the fire with breakfast cooking over the hot coals and gives her a knowing grin, but doesn’t say anything. Keela almost makes it to her tent without much incident but it is not to be as Sera steps from her own.

“Wha…?” Sleepy eyes blink in the scene and there’s a moment of silence as the wheels sputter and spin in her head before she lets out a scream. “No you didn’t! Ugh! What was that like? Like ramming up against a bean pole I bet, yeah? Oh Maker was I right about him whispering elvhen things?”

Instead of shirking away Keela gets a wicked glint in her eyes. “Do you want to know? I would be happy to tell you all about it. He has some really adorable freckles on his-”

“Ah, no! Leave off!” Sera backs towards safety, but Keela pounces after her.

“And he’s really good with his fingers, especially-”

“Noooo, not listening!” 

They both disappear into Sera’s tent, the sound of their laughter slipping through the leather as a stillness falls over the camp again although much of it is now awake and wondering. Solas feels many eyes on his exposed skin and does his best to straighten up against the scrutiny now all for him. He should go to his own tent and get ready for the day, but he finds himself stuck, and staring into the flames. 

Varric shakes his head, an amused chuckle low in his throat, as if none of this surprises him. “So, breakfast?”


End file.
